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CURRENT
AFFAIRS
Hong Kong
Legislator: 'We're Not Asking for the Moon'
The
proximate cause of the months-long
protests in Hong Kong was a proposed extradition bill, put
forward by Chief Executive Carrie
Lam, that could have made Hong Kong residents
vulnerable to mainland China’s legal system. But according to two
members of the territory’s Legislative Council, the demonstrations
ultimately concern a more fundamental issue: the struggle of Hong
Kongers to maintain their unique identity in the face of sustained
Chinese pressure.
"All Hong Kong’s people want is democracy, as promised under the
Basic Law," said Dennis
Kwok, one of the two LegCo lawmakers who spoke at Asia
Society New York on Thursday. "That promise has
failed."
Kwok and his colleague Alvin
Yeung described the situation in Hong Kong as part of a
larger ideological struggle between Western democracy and
authoritarianism. But U.S. President Donald Trump has largely kept
his distance, refraining from speaking out about the protests lest he
jeopardizes ongoing U.S.-China trade talks. And Commerce
Secretary Wilbur
Ross even referred to the Hong Kong protests as an
“internal matter” for China. Kwok does not agree with this
assessment. “The U.S. and all Western countries have a stake in Hong
Kong,” he said.
Yeung also discussed
the viability of “One Country, Two Systems,” the legal
framework underpinning Hong Kong’s handover from British to Chinese
rule, while Kwok speculated whether the Chinese Communist Party would move to
quash the protests.
Read Asia Blog’s
full
coverage of Kwok and Yeung’s talk, and click
here to watch the complete event.
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PODCAST
India's
Middle East Tilt
In the
latest episode of the Asia
Inside Out podcast, C.
Raja Mohan, director of the Institute of South Asian
Studies at the National University of Singapore, discusses India’s
westward tilt toward the Middle East with Anubhav Gupta
of the Asia Society Policy Institute. During the conversation, Mohan
described the substantive elements of India’s Middle East push, how
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi has changed India’s diplomatic approach to the
region, and whether India is ready to be a more substantive player
there. He also talked about how the Trump administration’s Iran policy
and China’s growing influence in the region are impacting India’s
decisions.
This episode was released in conjunction with the launch of the Asia
Society Policy Institute’s new initiative, Asia’s
New Pivot, which is aimed at examining the
strategic implications of evolving ties between Asia and the Middle
East. Explore Asia’s New Pivot here
and check
out the podcast here.
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UPCOMING EVENTS
Asia
Society Australia has two new executive briefings coming up in Sydney:
On August 21, Professor Zha
Daojiong, a political economist at Peking University,
will speak about China’s foreign policy and the strategic outlook for
the U.S.-China relationship. Details
here. And on August 22, Arthur Sinodinos, Australia’s
ambassador-designate to the United States, will talk about the two
countries’ relationship in the context of events in Asia. Details
here.
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JOIN & SUPPORT
Asia Society relies on the generosity
of its friends and members to support its mission of strengthening
relationships and promoting understanding among the people, leaders,
and institutions of Asia and the United States.
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